WITHOUT EXIT

MS-13 and its rival gang, Barrio 18, became infamous in Central America and North America for developing networks extensive and sophisticated extortion and domination operations in the region. Sin Salida is the result of more than three years of research, planning and photography. Zaidi met and liaised with several agencies to attempt to represent the full circle of the impact of gang activity in Salvadoran society. The first photographs in the book were taken in 2018, but these were preceded by several months to gain the trust of local contacts and research even before Zaidi put the foot in El Salvador. It took another year to get permission from the government agencies to visit prisons, observe the office of the Attorney General and even more time to get permission to working with police and special operations units. Levels of Violence in El Salvador has varied over the years, but the murder rate in the country has always been among the highest in the world. The government has obtained a some success, bringing murder rates down from their peak of 17 murders per day in 2015, to two murders a day by March 2020 – but an explosion of Violence in early 2020 illustrated how unstable the country still is. The economic impact is that those living in areas controlled by Gangs report less than half the income and fewer educational opportunities and housing than those who live outside. More generally, a culture Fear permeates gang neighborhoods where anyone could be a informant, infiltrating all aspects of life. Tariq Zaidi is a freelance photographer currently based in London. He has received over 50 major international photography awards including Pictures of the Year International, International Photography Awards, National Press Photographers Awards, Photo District News, UNICEF Photo of the Year Award and Amnesty International, among others. His work has been featured in numerous international exhibitions and selected photographs from Sin Salida will be exhibited at the Head On Photo Festival Sydney Australia from November 6th to 14th 2021. His photographs focus on documenting problems social, inequalities, traditions and communities threatened in the world.